Xfce on Fedora 24: Suggestions for Default Desktop
Hi everyone,
I am a big fan of the Xfce spin, so much so that I use it as my regular desktop and even
think it could be a contender for replacing GNOME as the default Fedora desktop (one can
dream :-))
I have some experience in software usability and I would like to suggest some small
changes that I think will make the Fedora 24 Xfce spin work better out of the box.
As presentation aid, please find these two screenshots:
Current Xfce spin default desktop:
https://spins.fedoraproject.org/static/images/screenshots/screenshot-xfce...
Suggested Xfce spin default desktop: http://i.imgur.com/XUllDME.jpg
Explanations for the differences:
1) Removing the "dock" at the bottom: The dock takes up enough screen space to
interfere with the Anaconda installer during the Fedora installation process from LiveUSB.
This isn't obvious in the screenshot from the website due to the high screen
resolution, but has been my experience every time I install Fedora on a netbook or a
laptop with a smaller resolution. It also panders more to people already familiar with OS
X, which is actually, statistically, a group far less likely to be the one migrating to
Fedora.
2) Replace the two bars with a unified bar at the bottom: The main reason people still
choose Xfce over GNOME is that it sticks to the traditional desktop metaphor. As such, we
should be playing to its strengths. My suggestion illustrates a classic desktop style
bottom taskbar, notification area, launchers for common applications (these can be
changed, the screenshot shows my personal settings for the launchers), etc. By adopting
this style, we are maximizing the efficiency in which screen space is used (helping solve
problems illustrated in (1)) while at the same time making the desktop more familiar to
newcomers and utilizing more of Xfce's strengths. If you like, we can also add a
Workspaces panel item to the left of the notifications area.
3) Replace the Xfce Applications Menu icon with the Fedora logo: Self-explanatory, aids
with better branding integration, makes the OS more cohesive, looks good.
4) Re-include blueman in the default installation: Right now, Fedora Xfce Desktop
doesn't have any sort of Bluetooth management functionality out of the box. This is an
oversight that can easily be fixed by shipping with either blueman or xfce-bluetooth
packaged by default in Fedora 24.
I strongly think these changes will make Fedora Xfce Desktop 24 much better. How can we
get them to be included? What's the procedure?
Regards,
Nadim
